Bullpen falters as Nationals sweep two-game series

WASHINGTON – The young Astros hope to eventually mirror the Nationals’ ascension from the worst record in baseball to playoff contention, but their recent visit to Nationals Park was a reminder of how far they have to go.

Washington’s Jayson Werth gave the umpire a little help by declaring himself safe on an early stolen base that included an impressive avoidance of the tag by second baseman Jose Altuve. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Plenty of holes remain on a team that had the worst record in baseball the previous three seasons. The Astros’ big free agent acquisition Scott Feldman lasted only five innings Wednesday night, exposing the taxed bullpen a day after Dallas Keuchel also lasted only five innings.

Astros reliever Josh Zeid couldn’t protect the two-run lead he inherited in the sixth. By the time the Nationals were done with the Astros’ bullpen, they were in firm control of the 6-5 victory to complete the two-game sweep before a crowd of 25,453.

The Astros have now lost four of five games to drop two consecutive series since their streak of seven consecutive series without a series loss was snapped over the weekend. Zeid gave up three runs on three hit over one inning plus two batters. Lefthander Darin Downs, who gave up a single to the only batter he faced in the Nationals’ three-run seventh inning, was tagged with the loss after Kyle Farnsworth couldn’t escape the mess he inherited.

“Me and Dallas both don’t like going five and stuff like that,” Feldman said after giving up six hits and two runs with three walks and five strikeouts. “I would have loved to go seven, eight, nine, but it didn’t work out.

“The guys in the ‘pen have been doing a great job. It’s just tough to see them getting abused like this. Hopefully from here on out we can get a little deeper into games and give those guys a break because they’ve been doing a great job.”

The Nationals, who reached the dreaded 100-loss plateau in 2008 and 2009, suffered six consecutive losing seasons before they reached the playoffs with the best record in baseball in 2012.

They are now atop the NL East standings, giving the Astros hope for the future.

Down 2-0, Jose Altuve led off the fourth with a walk. Gonzalez then hit George Springer with a pitch. Jon Singleton loaded the bases with a single up the middle. Matt Dominguez followed with a two-run single to left. Jason Castro then gave the Astros a 3-2 lead with a double down the left field line. Jonathan Villar made it 4-2 with a sacrifice fly to left.

The Nationals got one run back against Zeid in the sixth. The Astros countered in the seventh when Robbie Grossman drew a leadoff walk off reliever Ross Detwiler. Two outs later, Altuve chopped a ball to the right side for an infield single to put runners at the corners.Grossman then scored on a wild pitch to go ahead 5-3. Detwiler intentionally walked Springer and hit Singleton with a pitch to load the bases. Righthander Aaron Barrett took over and induced a fielder’s choice grounder to short from Dominguez to strand the bases loaded.

Former Rice star Anthony Rendon crushed Zeid’s first pitch in the seventh over the left-center field for his 10th home run of the year, cutting the Astros’ lead to 5-4.

“Just a fastball trying to get ahead,” Zeid said. “Longer inning before that and I was trying to go back out there and throw strikes. He’s been hot lately and he’s been hot against us all season. Right pitch called, poor pitch placement.”

Zeid then walked Jayson Werth, prompting a call to Downs. After Adam LaRoche put runners at the corners with a bloop single to center, Farnsworth was summoned out of the bullpen. Ryan Zimmerman then tied it at 5 with a fielder’s choice grounder to second. Ian Desmond added a double down the left field line.

Farnsworth intentionally walked Espinosa to load the bases. Pinch hitter Nate McLouth then gave the Nats a 6-5 lead with a sac fly to left.

“It lets you know that it’s possible,” Porter said of the Nationals’ success. “Any time you go through that process, you take your lumps, but you know along the way you’re putting together a championship team and you’re taking those lumps together.”